FIFTY YEARS
ON FROM THE
CLEAN AIR ACT
Peter Brimblecombe
Jacqueline Morreau
Impression of Killer fog - Embankment, 1952
School of Environmental Sciences
University of East Anglia
Norwich NR4 7TJ UK
FOG AND LONDON
z
z
z
z
z
Smoke and fog long a problem of London life.
Enhanced death rates evident by 1650
Widely understood
by 1890s
19th C legislative
control of smoke not
very effective
Consistent image of
London
Jennings, William N. (1860-1946)
London Brown Fog a week November 1899
Yoshio Markino
Gustave Doré
Yoshio Markino
Wolf Suschitzky
Yoshio Markino
1952 Smog
Day/annum
LONDON FOG
and AIR POLLUTION
100
75
µg m-3
Fog-days
Model SO2
50
200
25
0
1700
400
1800
1900
µg
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE
LONDON SMOG OF 1952
m-3
5000
Smoke
SO2
4000
3000
December air pollution
at County Hall
2000
1000
0
0
5
10
15
WEEKLY DEATH RATE IN
LONDON ADMINISTRATIVE COUNTY 1952
3000
2000
1000
0
SMOG
WEEK
Deaths
PUBLIC IMAGES of
the GREAT SMOG
z
z
z
Cancelled buses, football
Lost on the way home
Blind guides
PUBLIC IMAGES of
the GREAT SMOG
z
z
z
z
z
Praying on the steps of St Pauls, convinced
of the end of the world
Fires
Burglary
La Traviata
Cattle-deaths
THE FOG AND CRIMINALITY
Newspapers reported increase in crime…
Tiger in the Smoke (1952)
Lady in the Fog (1952)
KRAY BROTHERS
Grateful for the
fogs spent the early
1950's dodging
the Army
Normally crime
increased in fogs,
… but in 1952
the Great
Smog rendered
London virtually
crime free
David Bailey
CHILDREN IN THE SMOG
OUTCOME
AS EVERYONE KNOWS...
z
Beaver Committee
Private Member’s Bill (Nabarro)
z Clean Air Act (1956)
z
but...
How many died?
z What was the role of SO2?
z
STRUCTURE OF THE ACT
z
Many clauses
PHA (1936) 6
CAA (1956) > 40
z
Detail in memoranda
chimney heights
smoke control areas
industrial premises
Compare with EC/96/62
Air Quality Monitoring and Management Directive
INNOVATION and IMAGINATION
z
What was wrong with the smoke clauses
of the Public Health Act (1936 )?
z
Challenges personal freedom by
controlling what people could burn in
their own homes
"chimney of any building..."
DOUBTS
z
Not enough smokeless fuel...
FACTS-FACTIONS-FICTIONS
z
z
z
z
MacMillan
(Housing)
Gasmasks
Mass Graves
Delay
Conspiracy and cover updriven by fading social memory?
FACTS-FACTIONS-FICTIONS
Re-analysis… can be problematical
z
z
Deaths
Battersea
CLEAN AIR ACT (1956)
SUCCESS OR FAILURE
z
Declining smoke and SO2 – even outside smokeless zones
z
Domestic
transitions
Smokeless fuels
Slow uptake of
smokeless zones
in some areas
Failure to
address SO2
z
z
z
CAA(1956)
AFFECTS OUR CONCEPT OF ENVIRONMENT
z
z
z
Bonfires in gardens
Regulation of indoor spaces and furnishings
Personal freedom and the
automobile
ƒ congestion charges
ƒ “public transport will never
cope…”
ƒ buses make pollution
worse
ƒ school runs - less than one
in 10 parents believe
public transport can get
their children to school
FREEDOM TO DRIVE TO SCHOOL
THE SCHOOL RUN
HOPLEY, E. BRIMBLECOMBE, P. Clean
Air & Env Prot. 32, 75-77 (2002)
PARTICLES IN THE PARIS METRO
… role of iron wheels, rails and brakes
and Fe may be 280 µg m-3 (80%)
Other elements
Iron
PM2.5
PM10
Soluble
OC
EC
µg m-3
0
5
10
15
20
25
S. Mazoue et al (2001)
CONCLUSIONS
z
The world and
London has
changed –
PM, winter NO2,
summer ozone
z
z
CAA(1956)
incorporated
into
CAA(1993)
Iconic status
THE END
Peter Brimblecombe
Jacqueline Morreau
Impression of Killer fog - Embankment, 1952
School of Environmental Sciences
University of East Anglia
Norwich NR4 7TJ UK